Wichita eagle., 1887-06-16
A NERVOUS MANS VAIL.
PEOPLE WHO THOUGHTLESSLY SET
OTHER FOLKS NERVES ON EDGE.

The Aggravating Habits to Which Some
of Natures Noblemen Are Addicted.
Biting the Nails-''The Devils Tattoo"
Boy and Blackboard.
The other day called on a gentleman
for whom l have the highest regard, and
who has on several occasions proved to
me that he is one of natures noblemen; q
man who never by any means lets his left
hand know what his right is doing, and
whose right hand is continually doing
good, and yet before left him could
have taken both his right and left hands
and cheerfully chopped them off, and this
is why: During the entire interview his
good right hand kept cracking the joints
of the fingers of his equally good left
hand and vice versa. Now, if there is one
thing more than another that puts my
nerves on edge and makes my blood run
cold it is to have man sit alongside OF
me and crack his fingers, and consequently
during that whole interview l was in con-
tinual struggle between my desire to
listen to my good friends talk and my
other desire to strangle him. Yet he,
good, easy soul, knew nothing of this, and
went On chatting and cracking, utterly
unconscious of the suppressed volcano that
threatened every moment to burst and
overwhelm him.
AN AGGRAvATING HABIT.
Now, don't believe am any more nerv-
Gus than the rest Of my kind, and yet,
after I left my friend, thought of SO
many petty annoyances like this that dis
turb my peace that L fairly wonder that
have lived as long as / have without hav-
too nj II
know man whose life must be in danger
all the time because of an aggravating
habit be has of biting his nails. When
ever he talks to me and begins to chew
his fingers | have to turn my head away,
because While / look at him feel as
though it is my nails he is biting and
sensation goes through me as though
every bite he took pulled out my nerves
with it. Then there is another dear friend
of mine who often drops into my office for
O chat, and who invariably sits down at
my desk and begins to beat the devils
tattoo" On it. l stand it for while until
unconsciously join him in the fiendish
music, and then away we go with our
dreary rub-a-Gub until everybody in the
room rises in revolt and demands an in
slant cessation of the awful noise.
How many men there are who cannot
talk with you without having hold of you.
They generally prefer @ button on your
coat, or if there is none handy then the
lapel will do. They will pull and haul at
y0a until your only hope lies in the hon
eSty Of your tailor, and you almost wish
that he had put in some bed stitches, SO
that something viii give way and you can
make your escape from the bore. Not
long ago somebody gave me little silver
pencil, which l in my pride hung on my
watch chain. And then my trouble began.
Two out of every three persons l met
grabbed that pencil and played with it,
pulling it out and shutting il and demand
ing to know what it was for and how |
got it, etc. IL about two weeks it was en-
tirely worn out and perfectly useless.
have since been thinking seriously OF get
ting some sort Of q pocket electric battery,
and whenever any Of my friends begin to
daily with the watch charm turn on the
current and let him have it just TO show
him that his fingers are where they should
not be. Some people, l suppose, would (
think | WAS wrong in doing this, but let |
them mount pencil Ike | did and III /!
guarantee that they VIII cheerfully adopt
the electric battery cure.
TwIILTNG HIS THUMBS.
Among the other things that make ny
life miserable hold chief the man who |
sits opposite me in the street cars end con- I
tWiriS his thumbs. [ cannot help .
him; and l remember enc day |
how astoniShed one gentleman who had I.
been twirlinc away for half an hour by /
leaning across the car and asking him IS
a personal favor to reverse the motion, as
[ could rot stand the way they were turn
ing any longer. He looked at me as though
was a little bit crazy. and put his hands
in his pockets. Have you ever sat in
room where silence was only broken nv
the scratch of a bad pen in somebody's
hands? Nice, is it pot2
l knew q newspaper man whose little
boy is the proud possessor CT a black
board and takes Il great deal of pleasure
IN writing on it with chalk. Now, that
journalist loves his son. and yet lie saws
hat whenever that boy, that chalk and
hat blackboard come into contact the
sound produced is simply maddening, and
30 has either to put an end 10 il at once
II incontinently fee the room in order to
ave his mind from utter destruction.
Everybody has experienced the fiendish
'Gorer, but as most everybody shores
anyway TAe7e IS always a chance Of get
ing even with somebody, even if it's only
he wife Of your bosom. There are some
persons in this world who. but for bad
habit they have Of filing their Sentences
With ''dy' sees' or asking the utterly
diotic question, is that sos" might be
worthy citizens Of the community.
lon't know many things more a-cravat-
ng than 10 have man say by sees''
With every other word he utters or reply
o everything tell him with an utterly !
atuous as that so:''-'Observer" in :
Call.